not One Lonely Walk
by Leni
Summary: post-series. The more it changes.... --Veronica looked around the almost deserted beach.--


_Written for **aaronlisa. **PROMPT: Veronica Mars, a lonely walk down the beach._

**DISCLAIMER:** See profile.  
**WORDCOUNT:** 1564  
**SUMMARY:** Post-series. The more it changes.... Reference to this double-drabble:

_for **hereticalvision**. Logan/Veronica, VM. S is for shuttered. (200 words)_

The rotten part of having become Veronica's friend is not playing nice with her boyfriends. No, Logan can smile graciously even when Roland is wearing that just-got-laid face - and then he'll fleece the basketball player (damn Wallace) over a poker game.

The rotten part is having Roland knock on his door for damn _advice_.

"Then Vero got this shuttered expression, man," the taller guy bemoans, "It's scary."

'Scary' is Veronica not tasering the big brute over the inane nickname. Logan considers giving false clues into Veronica's good graces; but she'd find out. It's been three months since their last all-out fight and he likes that record; it means that he might catch her between boyfriends after Roland's dumped. "Ronnie does love her personal space," he agrees. Can't help stressing his own nickname for her, even if he hasn't used it in years. "Here's what I'd do, big guy. Go back, face her. Break through those shutters, consequences be damned."

Is that surprise? Awe? Amazement that Logan is still in one piece? "No wonder you got benched."

Logan laughs. True; but he'll never join the rank of the forgotten as Roland here soon will. "Then you're on your own, my friend."

* * *

**(not) ONE LONELY WALK  
**_by Leni_

* * *

She'd missed this.

Veronica looked around the almost deserted beach. Only some teenagers were sitting on the nearby rocks, a loose semi circle with giggly girls and bronzed boys. Veronica's lips tugged upwards at the sight of the half empty packs of beer in the midst, the forgotten surfboards under the sun. The more things changed….

"Happy fools," she muttered.

Following her on his leash, Backup barked twice.

She adjusted the scarf her dad had thrown at her on her way out the door more tightly. "You'll catch your death in that thing," he'd told her as she breezed through the kitchen with a barely warm cup of coffee and a yipping dog at her heels. "Sorry, Dad," she'd thrown back as she stole one donut from his plate, "I sent the nun habit to the laundry." She'd still caught the scarf, though, and now she was grateful had Dad had the scariest inbuilt weather radar.

"We'd make millions if he patented it," she said, shoving her cold hands into her jean pockets. "The Weather Channel would never be the same."

Backup tilted his head and lifted one ear.

"Oh, ye of little faith," Veronica laughed as she continued walking.

It'd been weeks since she'd be able to take the family dog on its early morning walk. Her dad had lifted an eyebrow when she appeared at the kitchen that morning - much in the manner Backup had just done his ear…. Veronica chuckled. Wouldn't Dad love hearing that? - then he'd shaken his head and chuckled under his breath. "So I'm one prospective son-in-law less?"

"Maybe I just want to spend time with my father. Steal his wallet, ask for lawyer money and then wire his car for my escape to Mexico. You know, like the standard Neptune daughter."

"Try Panama. The south's getting too crowded, kiddo." He set a bitten donut down. "And it's Saturday morning, basketball training day in basketball season which your basketball-playing boyfriend has insisted you attend to for the last two months."

Veronica scratched her chin. "Yeah, I should have used that as the reason to dump him." She made a show of yawning. "His schedule was killing my beauty sleep."

Keith did laugh at that. "So, should I expect another truckload of flowers at the doorstep, or just tell the patrolling officers to keep an eye on the local bridges for potential jumpers?"

"And miss practice?" Veronica gasped. "Never! Not Roland."

"All right." Her father nodded, and the last piece of his donut disappeared in his mouth. But he wasn't done teasing her; Veronica could feel it down to the last Mars gene in her body. She shushed Backup and moved to retrieve his leash from its hook behind the cabinet door. Her father smacked his lips loudly and faced her, a grin on his face. "So it'll just be the regular post break-up Echolls visit?"

That's when Veronica reached down and stole the only remaining strawberry-cover donut.

"Hey!"

She gave him an innocent look and bit into it, trying not to laugh at the way Keith brought his hands to his heart in a show of deep despair.

"He should have gone into theater," Veronica told Backup as she rounded up and retraced their steps back to her car. Four of the surfboards had disappeared, and she could see their owners dancing between the waves, shouting at the smaller group of teenagers who watched from their posts and encouraging them to join in. "If _that_ isn't a recipe for disaster," Veronica mused, taking in the bloodshot eyes in many of the young eyes, as well as the slight sway of their bodies. "Reckless, reckless. When will they finally learn?" At Backup's howl, she shot down at him a half-amused glare. "I wasn't that bad."

But Backup wasn't looking at her.

She followed his eyes to the parking lot. To her beaten up Saturn.

To the ex boyfriend reclining against it.

"You never were this friendly with Roland," she accused her dog. Round dark eyes looked back at her solemnly. Backup was too well-trained to charge at an old friend without an express order from his owner, but those puppy eyes…. "Aw, fine!" she relented, snapping off the hook at his collar. "Traitor!" she yelled as four short doggy legs raced over sand and then pavement and finally glued themselves to his dark pants, leaving four fingered paw prints all over the legs.

"Serves him well," she told herself as she walked over. "Got lost, Logan?" He spared her an amused look as he rubbed between her dog's ears. "Because I know of this amazing seedy dive where you can disappear for, oh, the rest of my lifetime?"

"Missed you, too, Mars." Logan ignored the beeping that signaled she'd unlocked her doors - and therefore was ready to climb in and drive off. "And I've got witnesses placing me here -" He waved at one of the surfing boys. Figures. "- so it won't be easy to claim innocence if you get rid of my body."

Veronica almost laughed at that. While murder had been intimate part of their relationship since early on, they'd never adjusted to the victim-tormentor roles. Not without the mother of paybacks waiting around the corner. "It's not your body I want to make disappear."

He threw his head back in soundless laughter. "Isn't it great that we can still be friends after all that happened?" he asked a passing cloud, then snapped back into a normal position. "I mean, what if we'd gone the way of 'Fennel & Mars' instead?"

At the reminder, she didn't have the heart to scowl. It hadn't even been five years since their high school adventures, and her meetings with Wallace kept growing more vague and sporadic. In fact, she had the feeling that her last relationship had worked more as a link to the basketball team, and therefore Wallace, than as a way to show her affection for Roland. She blew up her bangs; well, never let it be said that Veronica Mars didn't have issues.

"Hey, hey." Backup gave a whine when Logan stopped petting him. "Earth to Mars?"

Veronica rolled her eyes at the quirk in her ex boyfriend's lips. It'd been almost a decade since they'd met and that silly joke never got old. "What are you doing here, Logan?" she asked point blank. They'd gone through their little ritual, exchanged threats and minor hurts. Surely now they could get to the point.

Logan's eyes disagreed with such a notion. "What else?" He stepped back, leaving Backup on the ground between them. "I just got this shiny new baby -" A small smile graced his face as he turned to his pride. "- and I decided it needed a great first ride."

His voice softened as he ran a hand up the hood of his car. If he were half as sensitive around people, Veronica thought, he'd be a lot more successful in interpersonal relationships - and he wouldn't keep chasing after her every chance he got.

Before she could mull on that last bit her subconscious had offered, Logan derailed her train of thought. "So, I hear the lady needs some help on her way down to Panama?"

Veronica narrowed her eyes. "You've been talking to Dad."

Logan shrugged; but he was amused. "Keith was as kind as not to point his regulation gun at me during our conversation."

"It'd be too easily traced."

"Yeah," he laughed. "Your dad mentioned that. But he said that if I did this -" In a flash, he'd gone to one knee. "- and this -" He extended his arms toward her. "- and called out, 'Hey, boy.'" He followed it by two short whistles and a long one. "Come here!"

Veronica let out her breath, sorry that she didn't carry her tazer that morning. Then she made the mistake of looking at her ex boyfriend while she was planning what exactly to yell at him. Her mouth snapped closed. Logan looked….

Eyes wide. Big pout. Carrying her dog in his arms and pressing Backup's left ear against his own cheek.

… "Ridiculous," she tried to convince herself.

"Heart of steel," he told Backup, as if it was an everyday comment to make to a girl's attack dog. "Lucky for her, I happen to know that we are the height of cute." He repeated the pose.

Veronica tried to bite on a smile; but she knew it'd be in vain.

"I'm not following you to Panama," she told him, opening her driver's door and placing one leg inside.

She wasn't surprised when Logan lifted his shoulders and opened his own door with one arm while he carried Backup in the other. She did raise an incredulous eyebrow to her dog, though, for its lack of protest. "Easy, Veronica." Even with his back to her, Logan sounded amused. "It's not dog-napping if the dog doesn't complain."

If she didn't need them so badly, she'd be throwing her keys at him.

"What about the diner on Bell Square?" he continued, as if unaware of the danger. But for one second, he'd hunched his shoulders as if preparing for a hit. Veronica grinned to herself. "I'm starving."

She thought about it. Cold coffee and one stolen donut definitely did not count as a proper weekend breakfast. When she smiled, Logan had straightened and was smiling back.

"Deal."

* * *

**The End**  
18/07/09

* * *


End file.
